Rough Drafts: Full Block Ravnica

Hello everyone! It's time for another edition of Rough Drafts! This week we reach the apex of the original Ravnica block as we get to draft Full Block Ravnica. We finally have access all 10 guilds, along with a chance at opening the most expensive card in the entire block, Infernal Tutor. Needless to say, the format is amazing. While Triple Ravnica and Ravnica/Ravnica/Guildpact are great formats, full block Ranivca is in my Top Three favorite draft formats of all time! As we've talked about in previous weeks, one of the most important aspects of navigating Ravnica is managing the guilds and making sure you don't end up in a bad position in packs two or three. As such, I've added a handy little guild/wedge/shard breakdown after the videos, so you can see how everything is connected and plan accordingly.

Let's get to the videos, then we'll talk about my impressions of Full Block Ravnica limited. A quick reminder. If you enjoy the Rough Drafts series and the other video content on MTGGoldfish, make sure to subscribe to the MTGGoldfish Youtube Channel to keep up on all the latest and greatest.

Full Block Ravnica: Drafting

Full Block Ravnica: Round 1

Full Block Ravnica: Round 2

Full Block Ravnica: Round 3 (Finals)

Guild Wedge/Shard Chart

Full Block Ravnica: Wedges and Shards

Wedge/Shard

Pack One (Ravnica)

Pack Two (Guildpact)

Pack Three (Dissension)

Abzan

Golgari, Selesnya

Orzhov

Jeskai

Boros

Izzet

Azorius

Mardu

Boros

Orzhov

Rakdos

Sultai

Golgari, Dimir

Simic

Temur

Gruul, Izzet

Simic,

Esper

Dimir

Orzhov

Azorius

Jund

Golgari

Gruul

Rakdos

Naya

Boros, Selesnya

Gruul

Grixis

Dimir

Izzet

Rakdos

Bant

Selesnya

Simic, Azorius

As you can see in the wedge chart, five of the ten guilds are divided up in such a way that you get one guild in each pack. With these guilds, your path forward is relatively straight forward. If you start of in Dimir, for example, you can move into Izzet or Orzhov in pack two (depending on what is open) and know you'll have a guild waiting for you in pack three. Boros works the same way. If you start off in Boros, you can move into Orzhov or Izzet in pack two, and then have Azorius or Rakdos in pack three.

Conversely, the other five guilds are all missing a pack at some point in the draft. Take for example, Naya. You can get tons of cards in pack one if you are willing to take the best Boros and Selesnya cards out of every pack, but in pack two your only option for multi-color cards in Gruul, and you'll be fighting Jund and maybe even Temur players for these best Gruul cards. Moreover, you have nothing in pack three. While having to skip a pack isn't a deal breaker, you need to be aware of the guild breakdown and plan ahead or you'll end up getting stuck.

One last note. Temur is clearly the hardest wedge to draft. You have to have the discipline to skip all of the gold cards in pack one, which is a pretty risky strategy. Yes, you do get rewarded with flexibility in pack two when you have access to two guilds while everyone else only gets one, but if things go poorly you could get locked out of a playable deck altogether.

Money Cards

Easily the most valuable set in the block, adding a pack of Dissension really helps the value of Ravnica limited. Not only do you get a chance of opening Infernal Tutor, but Dissension has some of the most valuable shock lands, a 2 tix Uncommon in Spell Snare, and a 1 tix Common in Utopia Sprawl. Keep an eye out for the lower rarity cards because they aren't all that good in limited and tend to come around fairly late.

Resources

Make sure to check out the primer on the Limited Resources subreddit. While it isn't finished yet, it links to some great articles and when the final version comes out it will be one of the best places to get all the info you need to be successful in Full Block Ravnica draft.

Conclusion

Anyway, that's all for today. Draft some full block Ravnica while you can. The format is truly great! As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestion in the comments. You can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive, or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com

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